Becoming Mary Lynn
by Jaxie M.J. Deming
Summary: Vlad Masters has met a mysterious, charismatic 24-year old woman. However, Mary-Lynn Greystone is not like other women her age. Curious, Vlad will be thrown into a world unlike anything he could have ever imagine --Reworked--
1. More Than She Appears

_'This is extremely monotonous.'_ Vlad thought dourly. He was currently at a cocktail party, and was not enjoying himself. He had better things to do as opposed to making idle small talk with people who didn't have enough neurons to tell the difference between a ecto-residue sample and green jell-O.

He plastered a fake smile on his face when he saw two people headed his way._ 'Perfect. A rich couple, intending on some small talk with no actual substance. Marvelous.'_

"Ah, Vlad Masters, I've waited a long time to meet you." The man said as he held his hand out. "My name is Marcus Greystone. I'm the Founder and CEO of Greystone Productions."

"Oh, yes," Vlad said as he took Marcus's hand. He looked to be about forty, had dark hair, and wore glasses. "And who is this young lady?"

"This is my niece, Mary-Lynn Greystone."

"Hello Mr. Masters. It's a pleasure to meet you," the young 20-something said. She had dark brown colored hair, and it fell to her mid-back. Her face was round, and she wore a pair of black, rectangular-shaped glasses over her light blue eyes. She was wearing a knee-length black dress with a single strap on the right side.

"Likewise my dear." Vlad replied.

"Mary-Lynn here just graduated from Case."

"Really? What was your major?" Vlad asked, his attention finally caught. Case was quite an expensive school, and it only accepted the best students.

"I majored in Architecture and History. I have a Masters Degree in those, and I have B.A.'s in Business and Psychology. I also studied art for several years." She said placidly.

"Ah, an interesting combination. Now, why Psychology?"

"Playing mind-psych is one of my favorite hobbies, along with art and history."

"And what are you're favorite eras of history?"

"Ancient History, the Middle ages, the Italian Renaissance, Early American History, and the Victorian Era. I've studied all of them and find them quite fascinating."

"Quite an extensive area, I must say." Vlad remarked, quite surprised. '_I'm not surprised she's a historian.'_

"I also studied world wars one and two." A shocked look appeared on Vlad's face. Laughing, Mary-Lynn stated, "I studied those for more of a personal endeavor. You see, my father is a major history buff when it comes to that time period, and it rubbed off on me, but I'd also like to study the Cold War. You know, Vietnam and the nuclear race with the former USSR."

"Wow. How old are you?" '_She doesn't appear that old, but then again, appearances are deceiving... I've never met anyone who knew this much about History of any kind!'_

"I'll be twenty-four come January." '_HOLY BUTTER BISCUITS! I'm almost twice her age and I haven't gotten a THIRD degree! This is definitely a woman I'll have to pursue a conversation with.'_

"Yessir, my Mary-Lynn is sharper than a pair of scissors and has a creative spark. Not a bad singer either. "

"Uncle! Stop, please, I'm sure Mr. Masters would much rather talk of something more interesting than my singing capabilities." Mary-Lynn said, blushing. "You'll have to excuse my uncle. He tends to get a little overzealous when it comes to things like this."

"Actually, Marilyn, I-"

He was cut off however, "My name isn't Marilyn. It's Mary. Lynn. Mary-Lynn."

Vlad was shocked. No body had, excluding his old college mate, Jack Fenton, and his family, ever interrupted him like that.

"Now Mary-Lynn, that was quite impolite."

"It was also impolite of him to call my Marilyn when that's not my name." She replied sharply. Vlad found her to be more interesting the longer he spent with her.

"I, um, sorry. They sound quite similar."

"And you consider that a satisfactory reason?"

"Yes, I do," Vlad replied, squaring his shoulders.

"Well, considering the fact that you have heard my name no less than three times, I'd say that it isn't." Mary-Lynn retorted sharply. Vlad almost withered at the fire in her glare. '_She isn't even wearing heels and she can look almost straight into my eyes, and I'm tall.' _However, he was quite surprised with what she did next.

Inhaling deeply, she held her breath for a moment and let it out slowly. A smile returning to her lips, she said, "I must apologize. You'll sometimes find that I have a rather short temper."

"It's quite alright. I shouldn't have mistaken you're name." Vlad said, extremely confused. iHer mood changed twice in the space of two minutes.

"Go ahead and tell him about the languages May."

"Mr. Masters doesn't care about how many languages I speak."

"Actually,-"

"See May? He wants to know!"

Mary-Lynn gave what could be interpreted as a groan and a sigh at the same time. "Fine. I speak Spanish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Mandarin, Japanese, Ukrainian, Greek, Latin, Polish, and Portuguese. I can also read and write all of them."

Vlad's eyes went wide. "How long have you been studying foreign languages?"

"I started with Spanish when I was thirteen. I took French starting in my Junior year in high school. After that I took the rest of my languages in a mix of college courses and with the Rosetta Stone programs."

"My, my, my. What is you're current occupation?"

"Right now I actually work part-time at a museum, and as a guidance counselor for teens at a summer camp as well as volunteering at a local library."

"My, you remind me of another young woman I know. She's attending to Harvard for her Psychology doctorate. She only knows French and is working for just a doctorate in Psychology, however."

Mary-Lynn gave a sheepish grin. "Doctorates take a long time and a lot of work. She's definetly going to have her hands full, but thank you."

"No _thanks_ necessary my dear. In fact, I was thinking of offering you a job. I'm looking for someone who can head up a project, and I've employed some foreign architects, but the problem is that none of them speak English and are unable to converse. I was looking for a someone who knew their way around a blueprint _and_ was multi-lingual. Trust me, that is hard to find."

"No," she said simply. Marcus, who was shocked at Vlad's proposition, stared at her.

"What she means is that she doesn't know enough about the position to make an educated decision, right May?"

"No Uncle, I do not want the job."

"Where will she be working, what are the hours, and what nationalities are the other architects?"

"Miss Greystone will be working at the Headquarters in Madison, nine to five, and I believe the other architects are French and Japanese."

Marcus nodded. "When does she start?" He asked

"As soon as she can."

"WHOA, WHOA, WAIT A SECOND!" Mary-Lynn said. "I have already said I do not wish to partake in the offered job. I am not a piece of meat, I am an intelligent _adult_. I can make my own decisions."

"May, go talk to those Hilton girls while Mr. Masters and I talk."

Mary-Lynn grew livid. She stalked off muttering "Dumb, drunk, crack head, blonde, sluts."

"She doesn't have to accept the position," Vlad said.

"Oh, she will, just give her some time."

"Okay then, so when can she start?"

_**Three Weeks Later**_

Vlad looked at the complex the limo stopped in front of. '_Apartment four zero three. Four zero three.'_ Vlad walked up the concrete steps and walked into the apartment building. He buzzed up to the apartment and waited. "Who is it?" a voice crackled over the speaker.

"Vlad Masters."

"Mr. Masters? My uncle said that, never mind, I'll be right down."

Vlad stepped back and waited. Not more than a minute and a half later, Mary-Lynn was down the stairs and let Vlad in. He followed her up the stairs and to her apartment. It was bare, as almost all of Mary-Lynn's belongings were at Vlad's castle in Madison. "I just have a couple things I need to grab, and I'll be ready to go." Vlad watched her retreat into a room. He put his hands in his pockets and waited.

Mary-Lynn reappeared with a purse in hand and a messenger bag slung over her shoulder. "Ready to go?" Vlad asked the young woman. She nodded and proceeded past him to the door. She walked out of the apartment and Vlad followed. Mary-Lynn locked the door and said, "I'll meet you at the front, I just need to drop my keys off with the landlord."

"Let me take your bag." Vlad offered.

"No, I've got it."

"Just give it to me."

"No," she said more forcefully, "What's with you're obsession with my bag?"

"Nothing. I was just trying to be courteous. It looks heavy."

"Fine. _Don't_ open it, or you will lose body parts in an extremely slow and painful way."

"I shan't take a single glance, don't worry."

She handed him the bag and briskly walked down toward a room at the end of the corridor._ 'What the hell does she have in this bag? It weighs a ton!'_ He made his way down the opposite way to the stairs._ 'You know what? I'm just going to phase down there. This is pointless.'_ Vlad looked around making sure the coast was clear, and turned himself intangible. When he reached the bottom floor, he checked again, and reappeared. He walked to the limo, and placed the bag inside. It fell onto the floor however and the contents scattered.

He was surprised with what he found inside. Notebooks, pencil pouches, and papers. There was also a laptop, a tablet, a case that must have held CDs, a portable CD player, and a green Ipod. Vlad started to gather up the contents, but couldn't resist looking in the notebooks. He found lots of writing, and sketches. On the individual pieces of paper, he found more drawings, some finished, some not. "Um, excuse me, but what are you doing?"

"Whoa!" Vlad started, "Oh, sorry, you're bag fell, and all of you're things fell out, I was just picking them up."

"Mm-hm, so why were you going through my notebooks?" she asked. Her arms were crossed, and her right foot was tapping.

"Just curious."

"You know, if you would have asked, I most likely would have let you look at them." she said quietly, "But I really don't like it when people just go through my stuff," she added, gathering up the rest of the papers and carefully filing them away into folders.

"You're quite good." Vlad said, hoping to make amends with the young woman.

"This stuff? This isn't that great, but thank you." she added, recognizing the attempt. The rest of the ride was spent in silence, the only sound being Mary-Lynn's mechanical pencil running over paper. Every few minutes, Mary-Lynn would stop, and look at it. Then, she'd take a look at Vlad, who was deep in thought._ 'I wonder what he's thinking about. He seems confused.'_ His eyes met hers, and the slight smile she wore dissapeared. 'She looked back to her work. _Mm. Now let's see, that's a hard line there, and this one is going away...'_

* * *

Vlad continued to observe her discreetly all through the flight. Her legs were crossed and she had her side swept ponytail over her shoulder. Her head bobbed and her foot tapped out a beat to a song on her Ipod. Her lips mouthed the words as her hand moved slowly across the page she had on the portfolio in her lap. Her eyebrows were drawn together and she lifted her left hand to smudge something. '_Well, that answers that.'_ Vlad mused when he saw the ring on Mary-Lynn's left ring finger.

Mary-Lynn took one final look at her work. _'God, why is he all I can draw?!'_ she thought as she looked at another portrait of Vlad. This time it was just his head and neck, and he was smirking at something.


	2. Arriving in Madison

When the plane landed, a limo was waiting. The ride to Vlad's Wisconsin castle was quiet. "When we get to the mansion, I will show you to your quarters." Vlad said a little awkwardly.

"Mansion? My uncle told me that an apartment in Madison had been arranged," she replied, eyebrows furrowed together."

"We are in Madison, and when I said apartment, I meant one in the mansion, like an apartment of rooms."

Mary-Lynn let out her breath slowly. "Fine, so are you going to give me a briefing on the project?"

"What do you know about the project?"

"Not much. Google only gets some one so far and I didn't want to hack into you're databases to find out the information. But let me just take a wild guess here. You have Japanese architects, French designers, and illegal aliens doing labor."

"French and Japanese architects, Italian designers, and no aliens, but some that speak little English," he said stiffly.

"Ha! If they speak little English, then they're probably aliens. Now am I serving as a translator for you, or for all of the involved parties?"

"You will be working mainly as a translator for me, yes, but you will also translate at meetings so things run more smoothly."

By this time, they had reached the mansion. As they pulled up a gravel drive, Mary-Lynn looked out a window and gave a low whistle. "You sure that's a mansion? It looks a might bit more like a castle."

"Yes, it does, doesn't it?"

"I just said it did." _What an egotistical ass. Why the hell did my uncle arrange this?_

"I was just-"

"I know," she cut in. "I know Mr. Masters, trust me."

"Please, call me Vlad."

"O-kay then, Vlad."

"Is there anything you would prefer to be called?"

"I usually go by Lynn."

"But your uncle calls you May."

"Yeah, and you're point?"

"I just thought that he called you May because that's what you normally have people refer to."

"Well, I can see your logic in that."

When they reached the front entrance of Vlad's castle, he got out and then held out a hand to Lynn. She didn't take it, and slipped out, pulling her bag and purse out after her. She shouldered the bag, and then looked up, shading her eyes. After a moment, she walked toward the steps leading up to the double door, following Vlad.

"Packers fanatic are you?" she asked.

"Fanatic is such a negative word, but yes," a look of slight surprise crossed his face.

"Deja-vu?" Lynn said silkily.

"Yes, I said something similar to an old college pal's son at our twentieth reunion four years ago.

Lynn looked around the front hall for a moment, looking with interest at the display cases and pedestals. " Wow, this is like my mother and the Browns..." she murmured to herself.

"Would you like to see the rest of the castle before dinner?"

"Um, sure. I should probably know how to get around this place. Definitely wouldn't want to get lost here."

"It's not fun. Now, if you'll follow me, I'll show you to the Dining Room."

Lynn followed Vlad around for about two hours, going down various halls and into various rooms. Lynn did her best to remember everything, and at the conclusion of the tour, Vlad showed her to her set of rooms.

"Wow," was all she could say. The rooms were beautiful. The main room had an enormous window, and beautiful cherry wood furniture. The walls were a really dark red and the floor was white plush.

"You're bedroom is to the left, and the bathroom is off that. On the right, there is a room for you to use however you please."

Lynn peeked into the bedroom, and then crossed over to the other room.

"I, I don't know what to say. It's beautiful, I mean, the view! And it's just, amazing and, and, thank-you so very much!" she bubbled.

"You're welcome my dear. I'm glad you find the rooms to your liking. Now, I'll leave you to your own devices. Dinner is at seven o'clock in the dining room."

"Seven o'clock, dining room, got it."

Vlad left the room, and Lynn set down her bag. She collapsed onto a leather armchair and sighed. After about five minutes, she got up and went into the room on the left. Inside were all the boxes of things from her apartment, which didn't seem like a lot in the large room. She grabbed a box labeled "Clothes" into the bedroom, and then started to unpack them, by either hanging them in a large walk-in closet, or refolding them and placing them in a wardrobe. When she finished unpacking that box, she grabbed another box labeled "Clothes" and repeated the process.

"Oh shit!" she exclaimed after she unpacked the second box. She smacked her forehead and said, "I should have done this the second I got here! Dammit!" She started walking around the room, touching each wall and mouthing words.

* * *

Vlad watched the scene in Lynn's room from above. _'What is she doing? What is this task that she should have done the moment she arrived here?'_ he puzzled.

All of the sudden, once she had gone around to all four walls, a searing pain hit him. "ARGH!" Lynn jumped and whirled around and went into a defensive crouch facing Vlad as he became visible.

"Who the hell are you?" she snapped at Vlad, not recognizing him in his ghost form. Her hands were in a rough triangle shape, the tips of her fingers together, while her palms were a few inches apart.

"I'm not here to hurt you!" he gasped in pain as he sank to the ground. Lynn stood up.

"Then you should have no problem telling me who the hell you are and what the hell you're doing in my bedroom!" she snarled. She pulled one hand back, as if she were getting ready to throw something.

"P-P-Plasmius," he gasped.

"And what are you doing here?" Her hand went back farther.

"I-I can't tell you."

"Well, then you won't leave." She made a throwing motion at Vlad, and something white hit him square in the face.

"GAHHHHHH!" he screamed in pain. He writhed on the floor.

"Who sent you?" she demanded, her arm once again pulled back.

"My employer!"

"And you're employer is?"

"Vlad Masters!" he said without thinking. "Butter biscuits," he said realizing his mistake.

"Vlad Masters?" she said viciously, her eyes flashing. "Are you sure?"

"Will you let me go?" The pain lessened some, but Vlad didn't know if it was because he had been exposed to it for some time, or if it was Lynn's doing.

"Yes."

"He is my employer, but if he finds out I told you, I will be severely punished!"

"Why did he send you?"

"You said you would let me go!"

"I said I'd let you go, but I didn't say when!" Lynn said harshly, and the pain came back, but not as intense. "Now you will answer my questions, or you won't leave."

"Okay," he said, admitting defeat. "He sent me to watch you to make sure doing anything to conspire against him. He said something about you hacking into his databases."

"Well you can tell you're iemployer/i that I'm not going to hack into his databases, and that I'm only here because I was forcibly made to take this job translating for him so his royal pain in the ass can have the best damn building in the thrice damned world!" she said grabbing his collar, with her face inches from his face.

"Now get out, and don't let me see you in this room again," she snarled, and threw him to the ground.

Plasmius got up, dusted himself off, and with some dignity, walked through a wall and into the hallway. He then flew to his secret lab under his private study, and sat there, trying to figure out what it is that she had done.

* * *

Lynn pinched the bridge of her nose and attempted to calm down. She walked into the bathroom, and repeated what she did in her bedroom, as well as in the front room and the spare room.

She noticed that it was six. "Well, I'd like to take a shower before dinner, and I'd also like to make a couple calls, so I'd better get going."

She took a shower and got dressed in a simple pair of jeans and a brown long-sleeved shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans. Lynn picked up her cellular phone and opened up the address book. She scrolled down, and then hit the call button. After a few minutes, she got a hello from a woman.

"Hey Harley! It's Lynn,"

"Oh, hey Lynn, what's up?"

"Listen, remember the protections spells that you taught me back in seventh grade?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Okay, well you know how Vlad Masters hired me to be a translator and an architect on that project?"

"Yeah, Lynn, where are you going with this?"

"Well, I was unpacking, and then I remembered to put them up, so I stopped what I was doing, and I started with my bedroom, all of the sudden, as soon as I get the spell up in my bedroom, this weird looking guy appears! He was floating like six feet above my head and had this weird blue skin and black hair that was styled in this weird style that made it look like horns and a white spandex suit with a cape!"

"What are you smoking Lynn?"

"I'm serious Harley! He sunk to the floor in pain and when he wouldn't answer my questions, I threw a ball of energy at him and he screamed in pain and was on the floor writhing! He said his name was 'Plasmius' and he was sent by Vlad Masters to 'make sure I didn't hack into his databases'!"

"Why did he think you would hack into his databases?"

"Because on the way here he asked what I knew about the project he hired me for and I told him not much because Google can only get one so far and I didn't want to hack into his systems."

"Well, I can see why he was worried, but are you sure this guy was floating and looked like you say Lynn?"

"Of course Harley! I wouldn't lie about something like that! I'm worried about how this will come back to me tenfold and when!"

"Did you mean to hurt him?"

"No Harley, not as much as I did, I didn't think that those protection spells hurt anyone and even though I did put some intention of pain into that energy ball I threw at him, it was only to give him discomfort, not writhing on on the floor in pain!" Lynn replied, rubbing her forehead.

"Well, you get tenfold back what you wanted to happen, but it'll probably be about fifteen fold because of the pain you caused."

"Fifteen fold of what I wanted to happen or fifteen fold of what happened?"

"Fifteen fold of what you wanted to happen I would think, but be careful. If you see the guy again, try and undo some of the damage. It'd probably help."

"Thanks Harley. Listen, I have to go, I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright. Talk to you tomorrow, bye!"

"Bye." Lynn hung up the phone, and then made her way to the Dining room, preparing herself mentally for what she would have to do.


	3. Questioning Masters

"Thank you for joining me my dear. I was afraid you had gotten lost," Vlad said when Lynn slipped in.

"I did get a little lost, but it's just my first day here," she said politely. She sat down a few seats away. A servant entered, and placed a plate in front of her, and another proffered a bottle of white wine. She held up a hand as a 'no' to the wine.

"So, any particular reason as to why you had some wacko in my room?" she asked casually once the servants exited the room.

"I have no idea what you are talking about my dear."

Lynn glared pointedly at Vlad. "You know, lying is not a very appealing quality."

"What makes you think I'm lying?"

Lynn gave him a flat look. "Plasmius said that you were his employer. Now, to reassure your fears, I have no intention of hacking your databases. 'Twas a mere idle threat, and that asides, I lack the skills to undertake such an arduous task."

"And how am I to know that?"

"You'll just have to trust me. I tend to not lie, so you should have some reason to believe me."

"I do not, however," Vlad said smugly.

"Okay, I'll remember this when I'm translating for you on Monday. Good night, Mr. Masters," she bowed her head slightly, and left the room, having not touched a thing on her plate.

"This is going to be an interesting arrangement," he muttered, remembering the pain he received in her bedroom. b(That sounds soooooooo wrong...)/b

* * *

"That moronic bastard, hijo de una perra! He is so, argh!" Lynn vented into the cell phone at her ear.

"Well baby doll, I don't know what you can do about Mr. Masters. You did say that you didn't want to hack into his systems, and being the powerful businessman he is means he has to take threats like that seriously. Remember seventh grade?"

"Yes, Biba, how could I forget? I just really don't like this guy."

"Well, I don't either. I don't like how he and your uncle handled the whole situation, but you're going to have to deal with him. Hopefully, what happened in seventh grade will help you with this situation."

"Yeah, I guess you're right, of course, you usually are," she added ruefully.

"Not all the time baby doll, not all the time," the old woman said.

"See, there you go!"

"Touche."

"So what do you think of the dude who was actually in the room?"

"I don't know what to say about him. Are you sure he was floating, and then he walked through a wall?"

"Yes, and he had blue skin and blood red eyes. What do you think of him?"

"I don't know. Did you talk to Harley?"

"Yes."

"And what did she think of it?"

"She had no clue what to make of it. I'm going to do some digging though. I'll talk to you in a few days okay?"

"Okay, talk to you in a couple days sweetie. I love you."

"I love you to, bye-bye."

"Bye-bye."

Lynn hung up the phone and then called Harley.

"Hey, I'm glad you called. Listen I think that the thing you saw-"

"Was a demon? Yeah, me too."

"I'm searching online to see if it's possible."

"Okay, but what if it is? What do you think I should do?"

"You're going to have to figure out if he's out to hurt you. If he's using 'Plasmius' for that, then you need to get out of dodge and totally disguise yourself."

"Well I knew that dipshit, but what if I can't get away?" Lynn said sardonically.

"Lynn, you are about as clever as it gets. You can do it. Okay?"

"Yeah, you're right," Lynn said as she flipped through the pages of her old Book of Shadows. "Hey, do you think that I should check the Book of Damnation?"

"It wouldn't hurt. Did you question Masters?"

"Yeah, I did, but he wouldn't tell me what Plasmius was."

"Hmmm, I don't know, I can't find anything."

"Do you think Mike's uncle or his dad would know anything?"

"I don't think so, but I'll check."

"Okay, let me know if you find anything."

"I will, and you too."

"Alright, talk to you later Harley."

Lynn hung up the phone, and then got out her copy of the Book of Damnation. After a moment of thought, she decided to get her laptop and do a search on Vlad Masters.

"Okay, let's see, tab 1, IMDb; tab 2, Google." After opening up the search engines, she searched Vlad Masters.

While she waited for the pages to load, she flipped to the genealogy of the five families. She traced hers and Harley's line of heritage, and then plunged into looking through the other four for any chance of Masters appearing.

When she found nothing she looked through Vlad's IMDb page, finding out his Russian mother, Tatanya Morgovic, was married to Charles Masters and born in 1943. His mother died in childbirth in 1962, and Charles raised him in England until in 1970, when they moved to Wisconsin.

"Well, Plasmius likely isn't a demon, and I doubt Mr. Masters is using magic."

Lynn called Harley. "Harley, Plasmius isn't a demon, and I doubt Mr. Masters is using magic. He isn't descended of the five, and because he isn't descended of the five, Plasmius isn't a demon I don't think."

"Yeah, me neither. But I did find some interesting news articles on a string of robberies in the Madison area that happened just as Vlad Masters got rich. He also acquired a lot of money in the stock market when some odd fluctuations occurred. I'm sending you the links now."

"Okay, thanks." Lynn's laptop pinged, and she opened up the message. She clicked on the first link and started scanning the page it opened.

"Harley, Plasmius is a ghost."

"You think?" she asked in a semi-sarcastic tone

"Yeah it's the way the robbery took place. There's no footage of it happening, and there's no forced entry, nothing was broken, the items just dissapeared. Vlad has a ghost working for him, and he knows Plasmius is a ghost too... hey, wait a second, did you know that Vlad was in an accident back in 1984?"

"No, what kind of accident?"

"He and two of his close friends, Jack Fenton and Madeline Cartwright, now married with two kids, invented a device that supposedly opened a portal between this dimension, and one dubbed the 'Ghost Zone', a place where ghosts reside. They had created a prototype and on May 15, 1984, they tested it. Just before Jack turned it on, Vlad stepped closer to it to inspect it. Jack turned it on, and it blasted him in the face. He was hospitalized for months with a severe case of ectoplasm induced acne."

"Wow... that's interesting, but what's your point?"

"I think Plasmius, and this accident are related."

"How?"

"I don't know... I don't know. Oh shit, Harley I gotta go, bye." Lynn snapped her cell phone shut just as she heard a pawing at the door. She opened the door a little and peeked out. There wasn't anywhone there. "What the hell?"

"Meow, meow," Lynn looked down to see a beautiful long haired calico cat.

"Oh, hello, who are you?" She bent down and picked up the beautiful cat, carrying it back into her front room, closing the door behind her. She curled up on one of the sofas, and stroked the cat gently. The cat purred and closed its eyes, content.

Lynn looked at the tag on the collar. "So you name's Maddie, eh pretty kitty?"

"Meow."

"Well then Maddie, is you're daddy missing you?"

"Meow."

"Well, we don't have to look for him right away do we?"

"Meow."

"Okay then." Lynn lapsed into silence, stroking Maddie's fur absentmindedly.

* * *

"Maddie? Maddie? Where are you darling?" Vlad shook a plastic container of cat treats. "Where is that cat?"

* * *

Lynn padded into the study quietly, she held Maddie in her arms like a baby, and stroked her belly fur. She started purring, and in the quiet room, it sounded like the roar of an engine.

"Is she your cat?" Lynn asked, startling Vlad.

"Uh, yes?"

"She's very beautiful." Lynn set her down, and she went over to Vlad, rubbing on his legs.

"Where was she?"

"She was pawing on my door about an hour ago, and I let her in."

"Traitor," he said to the cat that rubbed against his legs. He didn't notice Lynn reaching down and making a motion like picking up a cat. When he looked up, he saw Lynn stroking thin air. He gave her a strange look, and asked, "What on Earth are you doing?"

Lynn started, "Huh? Wha? Oh, uh, sorry about that."

"What were you doing?" Vlad insisted.

"Uh, nothing. Um, it's getting late, and I kind of wanted to get some unpacking done tomorrow, so yeah, goodnight."

"Goodnight. I'll send a servant at eight to escort you to breakfast."

"Won't be necessary. I can get there on my own," Lynn smiled, one of those smiles where your eyebrows don't move at all, and left the room.

* * *

"Phew," Lynn said as she shut the door behind her. She went out on the balcony adjoined to the main room. "Well that's a nice bonus," when she spotted the moon light sparkling off the waters of an inground pool. She went back inside and got ready for bed.


	4. Plans

Lynn walked into the mansion through the kitchen with a towel wrapped around her waist. She heard a small "Hmpf," behind her. She whirled around to face none other than Vlad.

"Oh, sorry, I took a swim in the pool, I hope you don't mind," Lynn said apologetically.

"By all means, use it as much as you like my dear."

Lynn looked at him with the type of look that one gives a man wearing a neon green top hat, tutu, and stilettos in the middle of January. "Oooookay then, thanks." i This guy has got to be a perv.../i

Lynn walked past Vlad, and went up to her room. She took a shower, then got to work unpacking. She was just about to start a second box, when there was a knock on the door.

"Hello?" she asked as she opened the door.

"Morning Ma'am. The master sent me to escort you down to breakfast." A mousy maid said with a curtsy.

"Oh, how kind of him. Thank-you."

"My pleasure Ma'am. Now, if you follow me." She walked away, and Lynn followed. After several minutes of walking through various corridors, they stopped at a set of ornate double doors.

"Here we are, have a nice day," the maid said, gesturing to the doors.

"I didn't catch your name."

"My name's Maria."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, and I thank you for escorting me, Maria. Have a nice day." Lynn slipped into the room. "Good morning Mr. Masters," she said brightly as she entered the room and sat in the same seat she had the night before.

"Good morning," Vlad replied.

Lynn poured a glass of orange juice, and sipped it quietly. A servant placed a plate in front of Lynn, removed the cover, bowed, and retreated from the room.

"What are you're plans for this afternoon?" Vlad asked after several moments of silence. He folded his newspaper, and examined the fingernails on his left hand.

"Did you have something in mind Mr. Masters?" she asked, not taking her eyes off of her plate.

"Well, if you are not doing anything, I was planning on having you take a basic tour of the Masters Coporate Headquarters, followed by a briefing on what you will be doing, where you shall be working, and getting you you're pass card."

"Sounds good enough I suppose."

"We shall depart after lunch."

Lynn choked on her juice. "We?" she asked, bewildered.

"Of course. Who else to conduct the tour?"

Lynn closed her eyes for a moment. "Okay."


End file.
